Play SW: KOTOR. It's easily Bioware's best title, although you may notice a bit of repetition since the plot, gameplay, and really just about everything are almost identical to DA:O (except with lasers!). It's fairly evident that Bioware, at some point during the early 00's, looked back at KOTOR and said "let's do that again, only with dragons."

It's also my second-favorite game of all time, just ahead of DA:O and just behind Ocarina of Time.

Voted Bastion because it's fun, awesome, and short. You could probably finish it in one sitting if you really wanted to. That way you can scratch it off the list and move on to Fallout 3, which you could easily play for several months.

Not to derail the entire thread, but I didn't find Fallout 3 to be all that engaging. It's an Elder Scrolls game with guns and bullet time, and it's hard to feel particularly threatened when you can slow down time and shoot off a radioactive zombie's kneecaps before putting a round between its eyes.

I love Fallout as much as the next guy but Demea is right. Once you get certain weapons all challenge is ripped out of the game, not that there was a huge challenge to begin with. Borderlands is neat but kinda boring if you don't have another person to play with. I would go with Amnesia if you can play with headphones and lights out. With people pestering you it looses its fear factor rather quickly.

I vote Fallout 3 as well if you have never played it. I was hooked all the way thru New Vegas (Which is also excellent).

I don't think the water/food and sleep hardcore mode was added until New Vegas but I loved it. Made it feel even more like your a survivor scrounging to survive especially in the beginning. Plus having medpacks go on a HoT instead of a spamable full heal made the game slightly more challenging.

But start with FO3 it's well worth playing and it was one of those games I put off forever because post apocalyptic is not my favorite genre. But it totally converted me.

Close second is The Witcher. You will hate the camera and controls at first. Adjust the camera to over the shoulder. Stick with it, great story and interesting combat style once you adjust. The Witcher 2 is even better but you have to stick with it at first too because it can be brutal to the uninitiated.

Edited, Apr 6th 2012 8:17pm by Shojindo

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An old silent pond... A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again.

Did Fallout have difficulty settings? I don't remember it being insanely easy. Plus, there's always the hardcore mode (need to drink water, need to sleep).

Did you never use that mode where you attacked the target zones in slowed down time? I never played FO3, but I played New Vegas. It was still super OP in the latter but, from what I understand, it was nerfed heavily. So I can't imagine how strong it was originally.

Did Fallout have difficulty settings? I don't remember it being insanely easy. Plus, there's always the hardcore mode (need to drink water, need to sleep).

Did you never use that mode where you attacked the target zones in slowed down time? I never played FO3, but I played New Vegas. It was still super OP in the latter but, from what I understand, it was nerfed heavily. So I can't imagine how strong it was originally.

V.A.T.S

Vault assisted targeting system. Good with some weapons and not with others. You can build around it or avoid it, it's entirely up to you.

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An old silent pond... A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again.

Did Fallout have difficulty settings? I don't remember it being insanely easy. Plus, there's always the hardcore mode (need to drink water, need to sleep).

Did you never use that mode where you attacked the target zones in slowed down time? I never played FO3, but I played New Vegas. It was still super OP in the latter but, from what I understand, it was nerfed heavily. So I can't imagine how strong it was originally.

New Vegas felt easier to me than the original, IIRC, but the two sort of blend together in my mind (and I didn't much care for NV).

V.A.T.S. is in both, yes. I remember it being basically requisite for normal-to-tough encounters; not overpowered, but rather necessary for survival. And also, insanely fun.

"The Rich are there to take all of the money & pay none of the taxes, the middle class is there to do all the work and pay all the taxes, and the poor are there to scare the crap out of the middle class." -George Carlin